My Goal of a Car

Hi,

I currently drive my mom's old 2005 Windstar (?) Mini-van. I'm paying half of the insurance on that ($100/month - my dad pays the other $100/month), and I need to buy the gas for it which I spend an average of what seems like $100 a month on that (to/from school and work).

I've been watching Craigslist, and found a beautiful '94 Camaro. The only problem is the paint job is terrible (I'd get it re-painted black), and the miles are a bit high (and my LED lights would look sick on this Camaro - I can picture it now).

There have been a few vehicles that have caught my eye.

'94 Camaro - $1350
'73 Fire Truck - $2000*

* I wouldn't ever really buy a fire truck, but it seems like a sweet deal.

Anyways, I will keep my eyes on all kinds of used car sites and around town, and will update this thread with my current bank value. This is just sort of a neat log for you to watch my progress, and hopefully see me go with a hot ride.

Bank Value:
$287.01 USD

Paypal Value:
$146.65 USD

Other Items for Sale:
Selling Website design - Current bid $40 USD.
Selling Runescape bots - Value of $50 USD.
Selling Runescape account - Value of $30 USD.

Next Pay Day:
Thursday, September 22nd

My pay day is on every second Thursday. I will keep this updated with progress as I get closer to my goal of a nice used car for college and everyday life.

When I do get paid, I lose a little bit towards paying insurance on the van, gas, and anything that I do with friends. But I do still make a lot of money profit.

I'm also now looking for new jobs that I can do online such as Runescape botting, questing, website designing or coding, etc. PM me if you have a job for me and can pay well!

My daily log since this thread was created:

September 20th - I made this thread.

 

Be wary when buying from Craigslist. Understand and accept that if the price is low, it's low for a reason. Everyone's main objective on Craigslist, in the end, is to sell their items, and they will leave so much out to do so. If you're not mechanically inclined, when you go to look at a car, bring someone who is with you.

Research on other sites the reliability of cars that you're looking in to, user reviews will be of great assistance to you. EX, Porsche Boxster, seems like a great car, you would never guess that 20% of them break down before 75,000 miles and cause a $15,000 repair.

Do. Your. Research.
If you're going to finance a car make sure you can afford it even if your payment goes way up. Also know that if you buy a camaro, your insurance will go up due to it being a sports car. As for painting a car, it's not very expensive, do it yourself, people will charge 5 times as much for labor as they deserve because people dont understand the simplicity. I can give you some pointers on that if you'd like, or if you need them.

Craigslist is great for buying used items, just be careful, and don't be afraid to travel a few hours to look at something you really like. After all, you'll regret it if you don't.

Best of luck in your search. If you have ANY car related questions, feel free to ask me. I'm very educated in the field.

 

Quoted for truth. Friends bring me all the time when they're buying vehicles. Send me a PM of the actual ad on Craigslist and I'll let you know items that are generally things to avoid.

 

Thanks a lot man.

I take my van into the shop all the time, so I know quite a few of the mechanics. If I ever bought a used car, I would be sure to bring one of them with me and pay whatever fee they charge me to have them inspect the car before purchasing it.

I've only really been searching within a 1 hour radius from my current house, and anywhere in Eastern Canada (since I go there quite often), which means I won't need to do a lot of travel to check out the cars.

The guy selling that Camaro in the ad, said the interior is in great condition. I'm waiting on pictures of it before doing anything though. My dad said that if I find a car that I really like then he'll sell the mini-van and buy whatever car I want and just have me pay a bit each pay check to eventually pay it off.

I'm still looking around though. I know the Camaro isn't that nice, but I have a good imagination. I can picture it with a nice black paint job, and some LED strips under the headlights, possibly an LED under body (still need to research that to find out if they're illegal in NYS).

 

If you don't mind me being too nosey, what area of NYS are you in? I live in New York too so I can look around for you if you'd like.

Don't really worry too much about the interior, the quality of that only illustrates the care of the owner, which can be very important. But in your case worry about the reliability in the sense of the motor, alternator, transmission, etc etc etc. I know Camaro's are reliable, but I'm not sure to what extent.

 

I live in Rome, NY. It's about an hour away from Syracuse.

Yeah, I know interior's not a huge deal. But I'm not going to buy a car with an interior that's ripped to shreds. Looks matter to me.

 

Weird. I go to MVCC.

Check the Binghamton area, even down near Albany, tons of good deals on cars down there.

 

MV Rome or Utica?

 

Utica. I'm from Westmoreland but I'm currently living with my girlfriend in Utica so it's more convenient.

 

Very interesting.

Thanks a lot, I will be sure to do that.

 

Exactly. I have a 2001 porsche boxster, it didn't get the chunk out of the piston (since its automatic/tiptronic) but the tranny went out around 2 weeks ago. and thats going to be 2 grand down the drain.

I also do have a 95 camaro z28 and i can tell you, unless you get the v6 it won't be gas friendly. My Z28 gets arond 14mpg (LOL!)

 

Is the Craigslist advertisement. Terrible mileage. I'm not very good with cars though, so I'm not sure about the rest of the stuff.

 

All that's relavent is the miles. The rest is all asthetics. Clear coat peeling is the paint, which happens in winter quite frequently, so it probably has seen a winter, or atleast stayed up here while it was cold, got wet and oxidized the paint. If you're really interested ask if the motor or transmission (or anything under the hood for that matter) have been replaced lately and find out at what milage they were. Post the response here and someone will interpret it for you.

 

Let me point this out by saying, If it is a parade fire truck, it is not street legal. I'm not even sure if a real fire truck is street legal for civilians to be driving. It's kind of the same as if I was to buy a police car, (not a Crown Vic, an actual police car with sirens and what not) I would not be aloud to drive it on the street. I can't load the picture of the Camaro.

OFF TOPIC: I live in Syracuse. Who would of known so many people from Upstate New York are on Sythe.

 

Crazzzyyy I just got a speeding ticket while driving up there.

Also he said he would never buy that he just thought it was cool. But I suppose when you think about it... They have no great value when they're not in use anymore.

 

From what i read you have problems paying for gas + insurance

Go witha a 4 cyl. all those are 8 cylinders and will chug your gas even if its long distance rides ( they are old). I'd go with a nice honda.

 

Yeah, Halo also lives in Utica (he's now banned - not sure why). Matthew (the administrator) lives in upstate NY too I think.

 

I wouldn't, older Honda's break like it's their job.
Also the Camaro he posted isn't an 8 cylinder, although you're right in saying gas milage wouldn't be great.

 

I haven't heard back from the guy with the Camaro anyway, so I doubt he still has it.

I'll keep checking Craigslist. And I also see tons of cars on peoples lawn for sale, I'll start checking those out more.

 

Yeah let me know what things you're looking at and ill provide any insight I can. I spend all day looking at and reading about cars and their problems.